Hop Variety Brews!

[Acasta]

I am fairly new to this game only done about 8 kits, and im going to start doing all grain brews soon, but due to my inexperince with different brews and stuff I can only pick the taste of one or two different hops. Ive used plenty of different stuff in my Kit and extract recipes, but i want to learn each flavor individualy.
So heres my plan;

I have 2x23L fermentors, so i was going to make about 20L of wort, proberly something light and basic, and then split the wort into 2 10L batches and have simple single hop additions of just one Armoa/Flavour Hop and use US-05, and do this for a few weeks and then try them all side by side.
Im pretty excited!

So heres where you come in;
What is a decent simple recipe i can put these hops with?
Should i use a different bittering hop then the aroma hop?
What hops should i try?

I feel that i need to learn the flavour of each hop before i can really understand more about my beer making process and tasting.
Next ill be doing the same but with different malts and basic hops.

 

[manticle]

I'd go for something really basic like pale malt extract to 1040 and maybe 200g light crystal. That could work wiith just about any hop.

Otherwise look at Neill's centenarillo ale ('everyone should make this' thread) and exchange the hops.

 

[Acasta]

Just say his recipe, i would use extract, but i figured that i could do some simple AG brews to help me learn that at the same time.
What should i do about bittering?
What hops should i use?

 

[praxis178]

What should i do about bittering?
What hops should i use?

Boil the hop for the test with the wort for ~60mins, not sure never did any extract brews (went K&K to full blown AG), then at flame out add some more for aroma at maybe 1g/L or there abouts?

How much you add for bittering will depend on how bitter you like your beer, but I'd aim for 20-30IBU that way the flavour will still be prominent enough to pick easily.

EDIT: what you're aiming to make is a series of SMASH ales (Single Malt and Single Hops)..... You will learn heaps, I do these when ever I decide to try a new hop variety.

 

[Acasta]

so don't boil any for aroma/taste? How long after the flame out should i leave it sit before cooling?

What are some of the "must-have" hops i should go for?
I was thinking;
Amarillo
Cascade
Chinook
Saaz

 

[manticle]

Just say his recipe, i would use extract, but i figured that i could do some simple AG brews to help me learn that at the same time.
What should i do about bittering?
What hops should i use?

Likewise - I based this on a simple AG grain bill. Pale malt like an ale then anything between 100 and 500 crystal.

Use the same hop for bittering you want to test and make a single hop beer. Each will give different characteristics and mixing them up will defeat the purpose.

Try 60 minute, 20-10 minute and 0 minute for each brew and keep everything else the same.

 

[praxis178]

so don't boil any for aroma/taste? How long after the flame out should i leave it sit before cooling?

What are some of the "must-have" hops i should go for?
I was thinking;
Amarillo
Cascade
Chinook
Saaz

For the aroma/flavour addition you still want heat, but not to boil it or you loose the oils (aroma), so just on flame out is about right. For just flavour and much less aroma make the addition 5mins before flame out. Add the hops and then begin to cool the wort, or cube it if you no chill once it hits ~86C.

Might look at East Kent Goldings, Fuggles and some of the other noble hops (Saaz is one), don't over look the humble old Pride of Ringwood either, but really there are so many that a list from me is really only a list for me! h34r:

 

[Acasta]

how much hops would be needed for bittering and aroma in a 9L batch?

 

[manticle]

how much hops would be needed for bittering and aroma in a 9L batch?

How long is a piece of string? How spicy do you like a curry? How many chips in a bag?

Depends on how bitter you like. Do you use recipe software to help you design recipes?

I would look at something between 30 and 35 IBU as you do want to showcase hops but maybe not go overboard at this point. Really though it's up to you and your palate. Do you go for bitter commercial beers or sweeter ones? Amounts will differ as the AA ratings of the hops will all be different.

As for hop types - maybe divide into regions and start with the well known basics:

EG

UK - fuggles and EKG (maybe Northern Brewer as well)
US: Amarillo, cascade, chinook
Germany/Eur: Saaz, tettnanger, hallertau, styrian goldings
NZ: Nelson Sauvin, B and D-saaz
Aus: pride of ringwood, galaxy

 

[bum]

I'm going AG on my next brew.

How do I brew AG?

 

[rendo]

ahhhhhh Acasta, my bottle blowing up friend.....

getting temp control for brewing and conditioning made the biggest difference to my brews to date....HOWEVER...this has nothing to do with your question.

In relation to your question, I too am going thru the different hop varieties, their tastes, etc. I have asked the guys here a few times what commercial beers has what hops & then gone and bought the beers from DanMs or somewhere like that to get an idea....(http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=44771). so far I know that I like hallertau, saaz, cascade... on my so so list is POR, Nelson, Amarillo

However, with your questions about bittering hops, i would be inclined to say, stick to the one type of hops per batch if you really want to know its flavour otherwise you really are crossing the streams (like they did in ghostbusters ).

Thirsty has a few tips in my thread above, eg getting some hop essences from Ross etc...see the thread its in there somewhere
(http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=634620)

HERE IS MY BIG TIP.....Get beersmith (http://www.beersmith.com/) it is GREAT software to which many here will atest to. It helps you plan your brew, types of hops, the amount you should use, to achieve the specific IBU you are after. What you could possibly do is aim for about the same type of IBU per brew so that you arent overly bittering one brew compared to the other. This will mean you will need to use differring amounts of hops per brew as some have higher alpha acid levels that others (Alpha Acid(AA) level is loosely how strong a hops bittering ability is). Just get the software, Its free for 21 days or something and its CHEAP as one brew or less, so its well worth buying....

In short, get beersmith, you'll love it. Its SO SO good.

rendo

how much hops would be needed for bittering and aroma in a 9L batch?

 

[Acasta]

Yeah i got beer smith, and i just had a big look around and picked out a big lot of different hops i will be trying in the near future!
Thanks

I'm going AG on my next brew.

How do I brew AG?

Well its pretty simple, all you need to do is... oh wait.
ha.
ha.
ha.

 

[Acasta]

How long is a piece of string? How spicy do you like a curry? How many chips in a bag?

Depends on how bitter you like. Do you use recipe software to help you design recipes?

I would look at something between 30 and 35 IBU as you do want to showcase hops but maybe not go overboard at this point. Really though it's up to you and your palate. Do you go for bitter commercial beers or sweeter ones? Amounts will differ as the AA ratings of the hops will all be different.

As for hop types - maybe divide into regions and start with the well known basics:

EG

UK - fuggles and EKG (maybe Northern Brewer as well)
US: Amarillo, cascade, chinook
Germany/Eur: Saaz, tettnanger, hallertau, styrian goldings
NZ: Nelson Sauvin, B and D-saaz
Aus: pride of ringwood, galaxy

Haha, i see what your getting at here, i have taken your advice and ill do these hops and whatever else comes to mind.
I do use Beersmith and i tend to drink anything, i don't have a set style, i've only been drinking beer 1-2 years haha, but mainly stuff like Little Creatures Pale Ale and White rabbit Dark atm.

 

[bum]

Well its pretty simple, all you need to do is... oh wait.
ha.
ha.
ha.

Perhaps I was being overly harsh (and this is not something I might necessarily be willing to admit to) but the thing is your question really is that broad. You've given no guide by which people might be able to tailor their advice for you and to your needs. You want to know what hops taste like? In what styles? What are your current preferences? What are you hoping to achieve?

My personal advice? It is better to drink a heap of different beers and find the flavours you like and work backwards. Life is too short and batches take to long to make SMASH beers for every hop variety only to find out that you've got boxes full of beers you dunno if you'll even like.

[EDIT: drunken typing rules]

 

[Acasta]

Well thank you bum.
I figured i'd make small batches, of about 24 beers, sharing that with my fellow brew-ster means it wont last long haha.

The reason i was so vauge was not to provide stress to advisors, but just get a broad range of opionions. Also, if u read the OP its actually just asking 3 questions about my hypothesied idea.

but i want to learn each flavor individualy.

What is a decent simple recipe i can put these hops with?
Should i use a different bittering hop then the aroma hop?
What hops should i try?

i need to learn the flavour of each hop before i can really understand more about my beer making process and tasting.

 

[rendo]

bang on....

what sorta beers/stlyes do you like....rattle off a few names....are there any beers/styles u dont like?

What sorta hops do you think u like? i did ALOT of searching around what sorta hops are in commercial beers to get an idea etc...its a great reason to do some research, go buy a **** load of beer from Dans, make some notes about tastes etc...then away u go.

Thats how I got to the hops I have experimented with, eg hallertau, saaz, cascade, por, nelson, etc.....i want to try chinook, tettnang and several others yet...but I am happy with what i have found.....cascade and saaz (or b-saaz even better...is yummy...LCBA style) see tony's lcba recipe

Perhaps I was being overly harsh (and this is not something I might necessarily be willing to admit to) but the thing is your question really is that broad. You've given no guide by with people might be able to tailor their advice for you and to your needs. You want to know what hops taste like? In what styles? What are your current preferences? What are you hoping to achieve?

My personal advice? It is better to drink a heap of different beers and find the flavours you like and work backwards. Life is too short and batches take to long to make SMASH beers for every hop variety only to find out that you've got boxes full of beers you dunno if you'll even like.

 

[bum]

Also, if u read the OP its actually just asking 3 questions about my hypothesied idea.

I assure you that I wouldn't bag someone (even if it is tough-love bagging) without reading what they said.

The second question does, I must admit, temper some of what I said but far from all.

I can see where you're coming from in terms of the stress thing but everyone who responds would like to think that their input is helpful and the best way to ensure this is to give even just a slight idea of what you're looking for. Not rules, just a general shape. Besides, even if you do lay down strict rules you'll still get a broad range of opinions. It's just how this caper works.

I'll go out on a limb and tell you that my favourite bittering hops are Columbus and Magnum and for all other additions I love pretty much any combination of Simcoe, Galaxy, Cascade, Citra and Amarillo (especially for aroma). This does not constitute advice (and I know it isn't all that helpful).

 

[matho]

acasta,

i did a similar thing when i started out aging, had a base recipie and tried different hops and specialty malts one at a time to see what they tasted like.
i only did one brew at a time though, if you want to try different hops in the same base wort at the same time you will need multiple vessels to boil in.

a basic recipe would be:

95% base malt
5% specialty malt

and a bu/gu of about 0.5

that is to say
for 23l
4.75kg of base malt
0.25 kg of a light crystal malt

with a 75% mash efficency that should give you a wort of about 1.050
take the numbers after the decimal point and multiply it by the bu/gu ratio of 0.5
that would give you a an ibu level of 25

now you have to work out how much hops you need to use i find that 3 equal additions a 60 , 30 , flameout shows the hop for what it is.
if you have beersmith or promash then use that to work out the hop additions.

hope this helps a bit if you need help with the hop additions let us know.

cheer's matho

 

[Acasta]

How does this look?
I think the Hops looks good for the IBUs, how does the Malt look?

Recipe: Amarillo Smash
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 9.00 L
Boil Size: 10.30 L
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 18.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 36.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.80 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5Grain 92.3 %
0.15 kg Crystal (Joe White) (141.8 EBC) Grain 7.7 %
10.00 gm Amarillo [8.90%] (60 min) Hops 24.5 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo [8.90%] (15 min) Hops 12.2 IBU
10.00 gm Amarillo [8.90%] (0 min) Hops -




Mash Schedule: My Mash
Total Grain Weight: 1.95 kg

 

[argon]

I recently did an (almost) Galaxy SMASH, just to taste what the hop was like

Did it with a fairly simple grain bill 85% base malt, 10% Munich I and 5% Wheat.
I had recently been talking with the guys at the Brewhouse, (Brendan/ BChan), and he mentioned that the Brisbane Pale Ale was done with 100% Galaxy added only at flameout.

So I thought to my self I no chill, so Ill add all the hops in the cube only. So added around 35 IBU worth of Galaxy Hops. Came out beautiful and full flavoured, got a nice aroma from some dry hopping too.

Now Ive been recently thinking, why dont I do my usual double brew day and do 2 cubes of 2 hop varieties added to cube only. Beautiful, to cubes 2 different beers.

So, if you see what Im getting at do yourself up a base malt batch. AG if you want. Not sure of what your capacity is, but a 30L batch would be good so you could split into 2x15L cubes. Try splitting the batch into both No Chill cubes on top of about 30-35IBU worth of whatever hop you want. Ferment as usual and dry hop for aroma.

Youll then have 2 varieties of deeply flavoured beer with a nice aroma highlighting your hop of choice.